A gentleman, falsely accused of an assassination, becomes a formidable bandit. Condemned by the king, he will be rehabilitated thanks to the intervention of a young girl whom he will marry.
A renowned sculptor aged about fifty years, François Bressolles falls for the young Catherine Collet whom he convinces without difficulty to pose for him. Complications ensue when he starts to go blind.
Before the Battle is the English-language title of this espionage melodrama. The first half of the film takes place aboard a French cruising ship, steaming through dangerous waters during WWI. Among the passengers is heroine Jeanne (Annabella), who was once in love with first-officer D'Artelles (Robert Vidalin) but he now seems strangely preoccupied. It turns out that the ship is on a secret mission, which ultimately dooms the vessel to a Lusitania-like death. After the sinking, Captain De Corlaix (Victor Francen) faces a court-martial, and it is at this point that the film clarifies several baffling plot points. Despite its complexity, the story is fairly believable, with the exception of the grafted-on romantic subplot.
Thanks to an understanding and sympathetic regimental comrade, a shy young man, very passionate about astronomy, gradually becomes more confident and manages to tell his love to his beloved.
1871. Roger Laroque accuses himself of a crime he did not commit to save his mistress, Julia de Noirville, from dishonor. He escapes from prison and is considered dead for fourteen years. Then he returns in the guise of a rich American in order to unmask the real murderer.
A young bourgeois lady leaves her husband to spend three passionate, violent days with a criminal she is in love with.
Two friends, Tim and Pinkie, are divers. A woman comes to separate them: she gets married secretly by Pinkie and during her absence, accepts Tim's advances. Pinkie doubts his friend Tim, but a shipwreck reconciles them while the culprit loses her life.
Chief de Cabinet
The plot focuses on Gaillac (Albert Prejean), an electrician employed by the Paris Opera. In love with gorgeous ballerina Suzanne (Gaby Morlay), Gaillac must play second fiddle to Suzanne's wealthy "protector," powerful politician Count Montoire (Henry Roussell). When the Opera personnel go on strike, Gaillac is appointed leader of the strikers, doing his job so well that he is ultimately elected Secretary of Labor in the French cabinet. Now on equal footing with Montoire, Gaillac is at last a "worthy" suitor for Suzanne -- who can't make up her mind between her two well-connected admirers, leading to a political rivalry the likes of which Paris has never seen. This harmless political satire ended up being banned by the French government for undermining "the dignity of Parliament and its ministers". (moviefone.com)
Judge (uncredited)
A classic of the silent age, this film tells the story of the doomed but ultimately canonized 15th-century teenage warrior. On trial for claiming she'd spoken to God, Jeanne d'Arc is subjected to inhumane treatment and scare tactics at the hands of church court officials. Initially bullied into changing her story, Jeanne eventually opts for what she sees as the truth. Her punishment, a famously brutal execution, earns her perpetual martyrdom.
L'auteur
Story of a woman who thinks she prefers a life of glory on stage in Paris to life with her Scottish lord of a husband in his castle.
